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Basic Building Guide for Applicants
Work in Progress Welcome and thank you for your interest in becoming a builder! The purpose of this guide is to prepare you for the application process and identify common building mistakes. 'Application Process' 'Before an Application' To get a basic foundational understanding of our server style, do the following: *Explore the various warps found at /warp map (completed builds) and /warp build (in-progress builds). *Look for ways to improve your own builds from examples found on the server. *This isn't necessarily required, but observing builders build can be beneficial. *Carefully read and review the application guidelines; you're application will not be reviewed if they are not followed correctly. 'Regions' *As a server, we have developed a series of styles that create a sense of transition and seamlessness throughout the map. Each region is generally comprised of approximately 3-5 different sub-regions which differ slightly from subregion to subregion, creating the sense of transition and seamlessness mentioned earlier. *Each of the 7 main regions are quite unique and have several distinct traits that can make combining more than one region problematic. When you begin a build make sure you fully understand the regional style for your build and that you stay within that style. Here is a list of some of the better builds of the various regions of Westeros. Be sure to check out at least some of these. *The North: Rugged, bold stone and wood keeps; strong presence of gables and ornate wood carvings. :: /warp barrowton, /warp torrhenssquare, /warp karhold, *The Vale: Vividly colored keeps and wattle and daub dependent houses; A more conservative, more practical version of The Reach :: /warp strongsong, /warp ninestars, /warp ironoaks, *Iron Islands: Rugged, weather-worn, stone keeps accompanied by small villages of sod roofed houses. :: /warp orkwood, /warp shatterstone, /warp shepherd *The Riverlands: Stout stone keeps with the occasional appearance of sanstone, accompanied by modest thatch and wood roofed houses. :: /warp pinkmaiden, /warp stonehedge, /warp raventreehall *The Westerlands: Sandstone dependent keeps with steep roofs; a loose hybrid mix between Dorne and The Reach :: /warp feastfires, /warp silverhall, /warp deepden *The Crownlands: Conservative stone keeps with wooden roofs accompanied by modest thatch houses. :: /warp cave, /warp hull, /warp maidenpool *The Reach: Tall keeps and and neat, steep thatch houses; a strong concentration on aesthetics, but not at the expensive of utility. :: /warp smithyton, /warp arbor, /warp holyhall *The Stormlands: Bold, stone keeps accompanied by small stone houses; vaguely reminescent of The Crownlands with a touch of Dorne. :: To be updated per release of the new map *Dorne: Sandstone dependent facades with flat roofs; minimal use of wood and logs. :: To be updated per release of the new map 'Exteriors' 'Layout' *The first thing done before beginning a build is planning the structural frame. Often, this is done by constructing a log or wool frame that makes an outline. By doing this you get a general idea of the size of the build as well as a rough visualization of the interiors. Doing so will help prevent creating short or cramped rooms (2 block tall rooms, for example). * Another important concept of layout is the shape. Avoid cuboid and rectangular layouts as they will often result in a plain and boring structure. *Vary the shape of the structure by employing more 3-dimensional shapes, such as L-shapes, a T-shapes, slight offsets (respectively, as shown on the photo to the right), or whatever other shape you can come up. 'Foundation' *''' Generally, every structure should have some sort of stone foundation and that it always extends far enough down that nothing is visible beneath it. Leaving these types of blocks beneath the foundation makes the build look incomplete and more importantly comprimises the builds structural integrity. '''Facade *The first thing to be expanded upon is the idea of depth. Minecraft tends to have a rather blocky nature which does not lend itself towards interesting yet realistic structures. Often to overcome this limitation you will need to exaggerate certain aspects of a builds, cheif amongst them being depth. *Continuing the theme of variation, as discussed in the foundation section, variation of materials is an important concept. For example, a wall of one plank type is not an acceptable level of detail; take it further and employ more detail. Again, certain blocks are not synchronous and should not be mixed together. For example, lighter plank types do not mix together well with the darker plank types and thus mixing them should be avoided. For example, birch-oak, oak-jungle, and jungle-spruce work well together. However, do not be inhibited by these guidelines; feel free to experiment. *Daub and wattle is a great block and a staple of medieval architecture. However, it can be hard to use correctly.There are four different wattle and daub types. Each type has four different designs (or “hatches”) which lendthemselves to various design patterns.Try to experiment with the different designs to create interesting patterns. However, use only one wattle and daub color per build. 'Roof' *The roof is another important element of a structure. Many roofs, especially those that have a relatively steep pitch, comprise a large part of the build; ensure that sufficient thought and planning goes into it. Another important part of the design is to almost always include some sort of eave, or overhang. Eaves help give the build a little more depth and also helps prevent rain from washing out the foundation. *The next major concept with roof construction is the matter of material choice. Most of the time your roof should be made from either sod, wood, thatch, or slate. Once again, returning to the key theme of variation, a wooden roof should have a little mix with its plank pair as was mentioned in the Facade section. Doing so helps give the roof a worn look and makes it a little more interesting. Be careful though that you do not create a roof that is jumbled; try to discolor it in ways that make sense from a weathering standpoint (sun-bleaching, leaf tannins, etcetera). *Thatch, on the other hand, is the complete opposite: never mix the two thatch types.The thatch would never become that severely discolored and it creates something that looks jumbled. On the note of making a properly shaped roof, thatch can be tricky to use properly. A common mistake often made is making a thatch roof into a shapeless blob. It should still have a defined roof shape albeit a little roughed up. 'Interiors' *Interiors can be a challenging, yet rewarding aspect of building. An important part of interior design is the partitioning of space into smaller, more useable spaces. A method of achieving this effect is simply placing more walls, hence making more rooms, to divide the larger rooms into smaller ones. *On a similar note of division of rooms, applying different purposes to different rooms is a good way to employ a sense of coherence and sequentiality throughout the interiors. Consider what you have in your own home: separate rooms for sleeping, food preparing, clothes washing and so on. Attempt to employ these into your own builds to base the build in reality. * Although this tip is not exclusive to interiors, ensure that each block that you place has a specific purpose. If theblock is only there to fill space, it is not serving a worthy purpose and should be replaced by something else that would contribute to a more engaging environment. For example, a pile of crates may occupy space, thus making the build slightly less boring, but do not serve any other purpose. 'Launcher Blocks ' Our server has long outgrown the rudimentary limitations of minecraft and has made the mutual decision to take our project a step further by migrating our server to a forge based one which permits the use of a custom launcher. Among many of the limitations that this launcher removes is the ability to add a multitude of custom blocks. These blocks have limitless utility which allow us to be steps and bounds ahead of other servers in our strata. To see a demonstration of the various uses of these blocks, go to /warp launcherblocks and explore. 'Conclusion' There is a lot of information condensed into a small amount of words on this article. It is recommended that you reread this at least once to allow it to sink in. Apply these principals in your new builds and see what you can do to improve. Builder applicants are almost always eager, but there's not need to rush; there's plenty of cool builds to come. Good luck and feel free to ask questions!